So this is the third day of my third annual Early Christmas, where I give you an opportunity to meet authors of books I’ve loved. Next up, we have Larissa Ione. Here’s a holiday message she was kind enough to send my way for me to share with readers.
So this is the third day of my third annual Early Christmas, where I give you an opportunity to meet authors of books I’ve loved. Next up, we have Larissa Ione. Here’s a holiday message she was kind enough to send my way for me to share with readers.Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year, but it wasn’t until I had my son that Christmas became truly magical. It’s funny, because I have so many collectible ornaments (like Star Trek ornaments!) but the ones I love best are the cheap, goofy ones my son made in school. Every year I thank God that of the few things we salvaged after Katrina, those ornaments were among them. My very favorite? A gingerbread man made from real gingerbread dough that still smells yummy after 7 years. What about you? What is your very favorite ornament? Happy Holidays!
–Larissa Ione
Larissa Ione writes my favorite new paranormal series. She writes the books exactly as I want to read them. They are dark, gritty, passionate, and she’s not afraid to take risks in her work. What’s even better, she writes about demons. I had never been a fan of paranormal romances because so many of them are about vampires. And I guess I just got over my interest in vamps earlier than most. But Larissa came up with this amazing idea and her Demonica books have so much fabulous world-building, plus her heroes are just delicious. If you haven’t read her yet, you are so missing out.
Larissa wants to talk ornaments, so let’s do that. Share your favorite and why it’s special to you. Winner walks away with her first three Demonica books. Announced tomorrow, like the first two contests. And go!
ETA: the winner is… Paula! Email me your name and address.
Posted in books, contest, early christmas
December 9th, 2009 at 11:43 am
The boys first Chirstmas ornaments since they are both getting older and someday they will be using them at their own homes.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Hmmm. Christmas ornaments… I have two little ornaments, shaped as a sun and a moon and I love those. They were a gift from a very special person and so they have a special meaning to me.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:49 am
A star trek ornament? OMG where do you get those? We are so behind these thing here in Germany. My favorite ones are the ones from dad’s grandma. They are still in possion of my parents but I love them. They are ball ornaments with a relief inside. They are so lovely.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:55 am
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December 9th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
My favorite ornaments are probably a matched set of Hallmark ornaments of a ginger boy and girl escaping from thier cookie cutters. We always put them near each other on the tree.
December 9th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
My favorite ornaments are made of litter – my father got them from his parents years ago…
have a nice day
Ina
December 9th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Hi Larissa & Ann :)
My favorite Christmas ornaments are the ones my children made. From outlines of their hands cut out & decorated to craft-made to pictures glued on popsiclestick frames.
:)
Thank you for the opportunity to win.
Happy Holidays,
RKCharron
December 9th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
I have a set of ornaments that I love. My aunt gave my daughter an ornament every year until she became too sick with breast cancer. Although I miss her terribly, I smile every year when I unpack these ornaments and remember how much my aunt loved my daughter.
December 9th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
You know what Steph and I want to do to the Gingerbread man Larissa LMAO!!
My fave Christmas ornament is a banged up Reindeer in blue and white with (of course) a red nose…I think it is made of paper machee (do I spell it this way) and it is covered in that velvety stuff. I took it with me when I moved out of my parents house as it was gifted to me one Christmas by one of my aunts (don’t even remember which one, I was very little) and I’ve fought to keep it and have it put up every year, since hubby doesn’t like my cuty Reindeer.
But since he insists on putting up some talking Santa Claus (one of those that start speaking as you pass them) that scares the shit out of me every time I walk past it…I insist on keeping Reindeer.
December 9th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Hi Ann and Larissa – My favorite ornaments are the ones my 94 year old grandmother made. Our tree is almost all her work.
December 9th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
My fave Christmas ornament is a bejewelled sitting camel with a treasure trunk on his back. It’s so dear to me because it was the very first Christmas ornament my Mum & I bought after she left my father…she finally ended a lifetime’s worth of abuse and I am so proud of her.
December 9th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
My favorite ornament are the glass balls with my parents’ and my name inscribed on it that I had made last year. It’s very sentimental and reminds me of all the wonderful Christmases we’ve had!
December 9th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
My mom used to buy an special ornament each year for me and my bro. My favorite is this really heavy bear whose arms and legs are jointed and swing freely. It always had to go one the bottom of the tree because it was so heavy!
December 9th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
My favorite is the bride and groom ornament my husband and I got the first Christmas after we married. It’s a bride and groom standing together in a plastic dome.
December 9th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
My fav ornament is a little black sheep I’ve had since I was a little girl. His name is Woolly and he has a bell on a red ribbon. A few years ago my mom got me a girl sheep to be his girlfriend and I named her Woolhimenia.
We also have an owl as our tree topper b/c my parents bought it when they were first married and shopping at the last minute. He’s been on our family tree ever since. :)
December 9th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Hello Ann and Larissa so glad to get a chance to enter this one, love to read both of your books immensely.
My most favorite Ornament for Christmas is one that I just got to put on our tree this year. My BFF from grade school sent me my very first ornament with my name on the front, she was in Fredricksburg Texas this summer and found a little Frosty Snowman Snow globe with the name Jackie on the front and mailed it to me about a week ago to put on the tree. Ladies I cried because it was so unexpected a gift, we always exchange cards every year since graduating High School in 1980 but gifts not so much. I will treasure this little snow globe ornament because this year I needed the pick me up, lost my Dad on June 21st Father’s Day and this is our first Christmas without him and it is going to be a hard one. I really am glad for my family and friends and when one of them “shocks and surprises me” with a little token of their affection it really makes me thankful…
Jackie B Central Texas
December 9th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
I don’t actually have a favourite ornament as such. We’ve never really had any that have survived for long. But one of my favourite things is the christmas lights :) I love stringing up lights through the house and think it just makes things so much more cheerful.
December 9th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
I have two sets of special ornaments. The first are the ones my Granny made. She died 4 years ago and putting them out always reminds of how much she loved Christmas. The second are my Duran Duran baubles. They are the first ornaments I put on the big tree. Everything else fits around them. I know; I’m a little crazy, but I have been a Duran fan for over 25 years.
Thanks!
Katie
December 9th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
It’s more a group of ornaments than a single one, but my godmother used to give me a Precious Moments ornament every year for Christmas. I have from 1982 (the year before I was born) through 1997, the year she died. They are extremely special to me and I hope to give them to my son some day.
December 9th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Just like you, my mom saved every single little ornament (ugly or not) we kids ever brought home. Year after year, they all made it onto the tree and came complete with a list telling us who gave us each individual keepsake and when. Now that I’m on my own and decorate my own tree, it’s a wonderful trip down memory lane to pull out the box each year and see what memories are in store. And my favorite? I bit of ribbon and fluff (that’s all that’s left) I made in kindergarten. I think it used to be some sort of holly and it’s ugly as sin now, but it means so much that my mom kept it all those years!!
December 9th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
My favorite ornament is the one my girlfriend just made me. She’s an art major with a concentration in glass, so she actually blew me an ornament. It’s got a lot of different colors dotted around it and it’s slightly lopsided, but I love it because it’s completely one of a kind.
December 9th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
I read her short story in the Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance Vol. 2 and had to fan myself for weeks everytime I thought about her short story.
Definitely count me in!
*Jen*
December 9th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
I forgot to share my ornament story. I made my Mom an ornament in the second or third grade and she still has it to this day. It was a picture of me in the middle of a construction paper ornament with lots of glitter. I still remember how excited I got when I saw her put it on the tree.
December 9th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
I started buying ornaments for each of my boys when they were born. So now my oldest has 20 ornaments and my second has 11. I hope they can take them with them and remember our fun Christmases when they get older. Okay, and I’m tearing up just thinking about it. LOL!
December 9th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
I don’t honestly have a favorite, they all come together to form something really lovely. :)
December 9th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
I have ornaments that my kids made – popsicle stick stars with their pictures in the middle. Simple yet wonderful :-)
December 9th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
My favorites are the ones my kids made in school, too–especially the few that have their photos in it from that year. Already they are much bigger/older than they were when they made those, and it’s such a fun reminder when we go to hang those on the tree each year!
December 9th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
I have a couple of Precious Moments ornaments and they’re my favorite because they’re so cute. I wish I had more, but they’re a little expensive.
December 9th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
I love the old fashioned wooden ornaments that my 99 year old grandmother sent to me the year before she passed on. I also love the little shuttle craft that one of our family friends and fellow trek fan gave to us the year our son was born that has his name on it, and Spocks voice saying “Shuttle craft away, Captain” I also treasure a very rotund snow-woman with a funny hat given to me by a little girl who was dying one year when I was working at the newspaper. She said it looked like me because I was so happy. That made me cry, and I think of her every year when I unpack the ornament.
December 9th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
My favorite ornament is this clever pair of little wooden mouse girls that my little sister and I got as a gift when we were kids. If you look at them, there’s nothing really Christmas-like about them, but they were Christmas gifts and they’re always in the box with the other Christmas decorations at my parents’ house. So, we put them on the tree (or under it) and I always associate them with that.
December 9th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Oh, I love these stories!!! You guys have actually made me tear up!
Ann, thank you again for doing this. You are seriously one of the most generous people I know. I love ya, girl!
December 9th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
My favorite is one my aunt gave me as a child, its a gold 1 dimensional little drummer boy. It means alot more now, since she just passed away this year.
December 9th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
My favorite is a glass ball that came from a Christmas store in Germany and was brought back as a gift. Its still together 12 years later and isnt broken. The care and thoughtfulness that was taken in bringing it all the way back to the Midwest, gives it a special place.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
My favorite would be the Ukrainian Easter eggs that my Baba (grandmother) made as tree decorations for my siblings and I. We each got one when we were in our early teens and I still have mine, 30 years later. It’s hand painted and beautiful.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
I love those starbucks ornaments. (porcelain, miniature to-go coffee and frappacino cups). Seems silly, I know, but as an aspiring writer, and a grad student -my friends and I spend so much time there. The everyday events matter most, so those ornaments are memories of a lot of hard work, but also of good cheer.
Also, there this lovely seashell literally dug out of the Red Sea. Its great because it reminds me of adventure, and also this really hot french guy who was in my tour group…. LOL Adventure and Romance. Holidays that are full of happy possibility
December 10th, 2009 at 12:19 am
My favorite ornaments are special Christmas balls with a place for a picture and they say babies first Christmas. I have one for each of my daughters (they are 33 and 27 now.) They are very special to me.
December 10th, 2009 at 2:24 am
I’m hoping it’s not too late to enter! When I was a kid, my aunt always used to give me these Time Life books about Christmas traditions in other countries. One of them was Christmas in the Netherlands, which came with a little Dutch girl ornament made out of Delftware. Of course, it was nearly too heavy to put on the tree, but it was really pretty!
December 10th, 2009 at 2:48 am
I have lots of cute little ornaments that I collected over the years, but one of my favorites has always been a Santa in a Spaceship – because that has always tickled me to think of Santa in space.
December 10th, 2009 at 3:14 am
My favourite ornaments are a set of 6 German made porcelain that my son and daughter gave me for Christmas 10 years ago.
They are beautifull and go in pride of place on the tree every year.
December 10th, 2009 at 3:40 am
I also love the ornaments the kids made when they were in grammer school but my next favorites are the ornaments I’ve collected while on vacation in Hawaii. They are big and colorful and make me wish I could be there!!! Happy Holidays!!!
mitzihinkey at sbcglobal dot net
December 10th, 2009 at 11:11 am
My favorite ornament is my Michigan football ornament that was given to me by a friend the year that they won the Rose Bowl!
December 10th, 2009 at 11:11 am
I have a few favorite ornaments. My grandmother was an artist, mostly watercolors. When I was 5 or 6, she began creating a painted ornament every year for all the grandchildren in the family (there are 7 of us) and my mom. I treasure these every year when I put them on the tree.
As she got older, she felt that she couldn’t paint as well and instead would make an ornament using one of those plastic kind you find at a craft store and fill it with potpourri and wrap a ribbon around it.
The year my father died, we had just finished putting up the tree (not a task we even wanted to do since he died a day before Thanksgiving) and walked to the kitchen when there was a crash. My mom and I hadn’t done all that great a job of making sure the tree was secure in the stand. It toppled over and laying in shards across the carpet were the remnants of ornaments.
Most of ornaments my grandmother had made me over the years survived. Unfortunately, most of my mom’s broke. She has only a few left.
December 10th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I have this one that I only put on the tree. It is a family of penguins in a oral ice home decorating there own tree. It has always been mine.
December 10th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
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